River Falls, WI · East Twin Cities Metro Mon–Fri 8a–5p · Sat by appt Owner-operated · Veteran-friendly (715) 307-8302

Tile & Grout Sealing · Mahtomedi, MN · Est. 2003

Tile & Grout Sealing in Mahtomedi, Minnesota.

Mahtomedi sits on the east shore of White Bear Lake in Washington County, with the small villages of Willernie and Birchwood tucked in beside it. It was resort country before it was a suburb, reached from St. Paul by streetcar, and the Wildwood amusement park stood at the south end of town until the 1930s. Tile and grout cleaning and sealing for Mahtomedi restrooms, kitchens, entries and corridors. We clean the floor, then seal the grout so it stops absorbing what gets mopped into it.

Text Dave · (715) 307-8302 How It Works
1 Coat Over the tile and the grout together
3-5YR Between coats Manufacturer rating in normal traffic
4-5HRS To foot traffic Restrooms reopen the same shift
0.9 Matte traction Dry DCOF, higher with aggregate

Why we seal the grout in Mahtomedi

Why the grout is the part that matters.

Ceramic and porcelain tile is close to non-porous and it is harder than anything that can be put on top of it. Grout is the opposite. It is cement, it is full of open pores, and it sits a fraction of an inch below the tile face, which is exactly where mop water goes and stays. Almost every complaint about a tile floor is actually a complaint about the grout.

The 6-step job

What the work looks like in Mahtomedi.

The same sequence whether it is a restroom, a commercial kitchen or a tiled entry.

  1. Look at the floor

    Tile size, joint width and depth, how much soil is in the lines, whether any grout has cracked or gone missing, and what has been used on the floor up to now. This is also where we tell you if your tile is a poor candidate, which large smooth tile often is.

  2. Clean the tile and the grout

    Cleaner dwells, then the floor is machine scrubbed and the grout lines are worked individually with a brush rather than passed over with a pad. Where there is old acrylic on the tile, that comes off first with stripper. Edges, corners and the base of every fixture get done by hand, because that is where the buildup is worst.

  3. Extract and neutralize

    The slurry comes up with a wet vacuum, then a citric acid scrub brings the surface back to neutral and we pH test to confirm it. Grout that is still alkaline will not let the coating bond, and grout is the part of the floor that holds the chemical longest.

  4. Check the conditions

    Air temperature, humidity, floor temperature and dew point are read and recorded before mixing. Above 70 percent relative humidity the job stops. Restrooms and kitchens hold moisture longer than the rest of a building, so this reading gets taken in the room, not in the hallway outside it.

  5. Seal it

    Two technicians, one spreading and one back-rolling immediately behind, so the coat wets into the grout lines evenly instead of bridging them. Traction additive goes in at this stage, which on a restroom or a kitchen floor it usually does.

  6. Hand it back

    The room stays closed until it is dry with the ready time posted on the door, and foot traffic goes back on in 4 to 5 hours on the fast formula. We go over cleaning with whoever maintains the building: damp mop with water or a neutral cleaner, and nothing that leaves a film behind.

Mahtomedi questions

Common questions for Mahtomedi homeowners.

Our house started as a lake cottage. Is the garage slab likely to be usable?
Usually, and it has to be looked at rather than assumed. Cottage-origin garages in Mahtomedi were built at all different times, so a slab might be from the 1930s or from the 1970s and there is often no record either way. The grind tells us most of it. What rules a slab out is structural: one broken into pieces that move independently, or one pushing water up through itself.
We are a block off White Bear Lake. Will a coating hold on our lower level?
That depends on what the slab is passing, which is why we test it. A calcium chloride moisture test gives a number. Low readings take standard polyurea. High readings take a vapor-mitigation primer underneath first, which is what keeps a coating attached to a slab near a lake.
Do you cover Willernie and Birchwood Village too?
Yes. They sit inside the same few blocks as Mahtomedi on the east shore, and they are quoted the same way. White Bear Lake, on the other side of the water, has its own page.
What does it cost compared to having the grout scrubbed?
Square footage matters less here than the grout does. A floor with narrow joints and light soil cleans up quickly; small tile with deep lines and years of buildup is most of the labor on the job. We walk the floor and give you a fixed written price before anything starts. The comparison worth making is against what you are spending on grout cleaning every year, because once the grout is sealed it stops taking the soil on in the first place.
Will the grout go back to its original color?
Grout that is gray from soil rather than stained usually comes back a long way once the lines are cleaned properly, and the coat that goes over the top wets the surface and brings the color up further. What sealing does not do is recolor grout. Grout that has been permanently stained, or that was patched at some point with a different batch, stays the color it is, and you will see that on the walk before you decide anything.
Is it slippery in a restroom or a kitchen?
The matte finish tests at 0.9 dry coefficient of friction and the gloss at 0.51. On any floor that takes standing water we mix a traction additive into the coating, which raises the slip rating and the abrasion resistance together. Restrooms, kitchens, entries and anywhere that takes snowmelt get it as a matter of course.
Does it hold up to disinfectants?
Better than acrylic does, which is the reason this product exists. Quaternary disinfectants used in clinical and food areas break acrylic finish down directly, which is why those rooms end up on the shortest recoat cycles in the building. EPIC is tested against bleach, hand sanitizer, food acids, vinegar and motor oil.
Does this work on large-format tile?
It goes on, but on tile of roughly 12 inches and up there is little to gain. Most of that floor is tile, the tile is already harder and less porous than the coating, and the grout that would benefit is a small share of the surface. Small tile with a lot of grout in it, and any floor where the grout is the problem, is where this is worth doing.
What happens to grout that is cracked or missing?
It gets repaired before anything is sealed. Coating over a failed grout line seals the problem in and the coat will let go along that line first. Loose tile is the same answer. If a floor needs enough repair that regrouting makes more sense than sealing, we will tell you that rather than quote around it.
Can it be done while the building is open?
The room being coated has to be closed and stay closed until it is dry, but nothing else in the building stops. Restrooms get done one at a time for that reason. The finish is low odor and low VOC, 46 g/L in gloss and 25 in matte, which is why this work goes into occupied clinics and restaurants overnight rather than waiting for a shutdown.
How is the floor cleaned afterward?
Damp mop with water or a neutral cleaner, and an auto-scrubber with a microfiber pad on the larger runs. What has to stop is anything that leaves a layer behind: no acrylic-enhancing cleaners, no grout sealers on top, and no products meant to be buffed. The grout no longer needs its own cleaning routine, which is usually the part that changes most for a custodial team.

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All the services we offer in Mahtomedi, MN.

The restrooms are rarely the only floor in the building. If the corridors are VCT and the lobby is terrazzo, all of it can be done on the same visit.

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